England have had a hard time in recent major competitions failing to make an impact. In the last World Cup they were beaten on penalties by Portugal. They then failed to qualify for the European Championships in 2008 and as a result manager Steve McLaren was sacked.

England's only major win came in 1966 when they won the World Cup. Their best performance since then in a major competition is reaching the semi finals of the 1990 World Cup and 1996 Euro's. On both occasions they lost to Germany in a penalty shoot out.